You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January, 2009.
Doctrinally speaking, the church is in a mess. This worries conservatives, for whom doctrine is all-important, as much as it does liberals for whom doctrine is divisive and dangerous. On the whole, it damages our credibility when the world sees our doctrinal divisions and thinks: Why would a God permit such confusion and division? Why do some Christians teach this and others that? Best to stay agnostic!
The more I study doctrines and the Bible, the more I see that no doctrine captures and can account for the entire message and spirit of scripture. Doctrines try to make the Bible answer questions it doesn’t and we forget that the Bible is not a work of Systematic Theology designed to be a handy reference to all questions about God.
Read the rest of this entry »
God is not a Magician who tricks reality.
The universe was formed from nothing but the creator employed quantum physics in order that condensed energy formed galaxies and solar systems.
Man was created from dust but the stages in between reveal how contrary to nature our existence is as blind matter strives up towards intelligent beings.
Forgiveness of sins was not obtained by formal pardon but paid in blood by a young first-century Jewish prophet.
God is not a Magician who tricks reality.
Rain is not a miracle in itself but it is sometimes the answer to prayer.
Each one of our cells produce 2000 perfect proteins a second and we assume they must.
God is not a Magician who tricks reality.
Ask God for patience and He will send you queues and tiresome people.
Complain to God about the worlds Evils and He will show you what you need to do.
Search for God and He will change your heart so you can see what is already there.
God is not a Magician who tricks reality.
God is Real.
We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Rom 3:28
This verse, for some, stands at the heart of Paul’s letter to the Romans, Pauline Theology, even the Gospel itself. I used to think it meant “we (Christians) get saved because we believe in something (Jesus, the Resurrection, the Gospel) instead of by doing any meritorious works”. Indeed that is how many Gospel presentations run in showing how Christianity is different from all other “striving” religions.
This sounds like Great News, an easier way to heaven, but I’ve been reading and studying Romans in detail and find four mistakes in this interpretation.
